you, too, attended ‘hellton’ (more formally known as welton) along with your brother, neil perry. this was the 3rd year since girls were allowed at the infamous welton. known for being a private all boys school ever since 1859. despite girls being the new ‘addition’— boys and girls remained strictly separate. left side belonged to the boys and the right to girls. of course, that rule was constantly violated. including the heavily implied, even forbidden, rule that there will be no relations whatsoever between the two sides of the school.

often, you visited your brother in his dormitory. if you were daring enough, would join their group study sessions. you had friendship outside of girls— mainly with neil’s own friends. neil had one best friend out of his 7 (having now a new roommate, todd) ever since the young age of 4. charlie. charlie persistently pestered you yet over time you warmed to him.

chatter from out in the courtyard, a buzz of dread, echoed throughout hallways all the way up to neils dormroom. sprawled out upon his bed, your eyes scanned over your timetable pressed firmly against your thigh as todd unpacked his bag silently. he tried to act absentminded but from your perspective you could tell how scattered the words within his mind fiddled at his tongue— never daring to roll free.

”rumour has it,” an overly familiar voice cut from nowhere, a rather intoxicating cologne rolled after him, and a presence far too self-assured for his own good. ”you did summer school.” charlie’s sudden words peeked your attention, causing a subtle beat in your heart to skip at the slight fright. head spinning in their direction, you spotted charlie and meeks with knox’s casual arm lounged over his shoulder.